The Kane County Health Department
was awarded two Model Practice Awards at
the recent National Association of
County and City Health Officials
(NACCHO) annual conference in Kansas
City July 7-9. The Health Department’s
two awards were among 19 total awards
presented nationwide, and this is the
third year in a row Kane County received
Model Practice recognition. More
information about NACCHO’s Model
Practice awards is available
HERE.

Kane County
Health Department Director of Health
Promotion Theresa Heaton displays the
two Model Practice Awards presented to
the Health Department at the National
Association of County and City Health
Officials (NACCHO) annual conference
last week in Kansas City. Theresa is
flanked by NACCHO President Dr. Swannie
Jett, right, and NACCHO Executive
Director LaMar Hasbrouck, left.

KCHD’s Model
Practice has an
impact on public
health by allowing
local health
departments to meet
several of the
accreditation
requirements
(examples of quality
improvement,
development of a
work force
development plan.)
These requirements
can be met in such a
way that they engage
all staff, utilize
existing internal
resources, and help
build a more
competent workforce.
As a result of this
process, KCHD staff
has indicated an
increase interest in
Core Competencies
for Public Health
Professionals.

The Public Health Quality Improvement
Exchange (PHQIX)
is an online community
designed to be a communication hub for public
health professionals interested in learning and
sharing information about quality improvement
(QI) in public health. The
following Kane County Health Department projects
have been highlighted there:

In July 2013, the Kane County Health
Department's Emergency Response Program was
profiled forImprovement of Employee
Drill Response in the Public Health Emergency
Response Program
Click Here

In September 2012, the Kane County Health
Department had two projects
selected for inclusion among the first fifty
projects profiled on the Public Health Quality
Improvement Exchange:
The two projects and links to their pages on the
PHQIX site are:

Increasing
Identification of Resources in Kane County and
Improving the Sharing and Leveraging of These
Resources to Achieve Community Health
Improvement Plan Priorities
Click Here

Created by RTI
International and funded by The
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, PHQIX
launched in September of 2012 with the goal of
sustaining national efforts at QI through
providing public health practitioners with a
means for obtaining knowledge from the
experience of their colleagues. This community
engagement will ensure that lessons learned are
not limited solely to the individuals who
executed a specific QI initiative. KCHD
continues to submit QI initiatives to PHQIX, so
check back frequently to see additional projects
added to the site.

This honor from our peer local health
departments is quite a distinction---less than
2% of the nation’s more than 2600 local health
departments win this award from NACCHO in the
annual awards program.

In an effort to
streamline processes, increase productivity and improve
services provided to the Kane County community, the
Health Department has
implemented quality improvement tools and methodologies.

By adopting models of quality improvement, such as the
Deming Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) model, the Health Data
and Quality Improvement Coordinator works with KCHD
staff to evaluate current processes, seek out
opportunities for improvement and implement changes to
assure that programs function effectively.

The Storyboard links share the results of recent
improvement projects.